Initially Rooke looked after the Turakina Valley area. In 1989 there was a reform of local government and catchment boards, pest boards and other organisations merged into regional councils.
"My area moved down to include the Pohangina/Ōroua areas, although I was still based out of Marton. I worked more in the Manawatū district with a different soil type and different erosion problems to what I was used to."
In 2004, a storm wreaked havoc across the lower North Island with a weekend of heavy rain, high winds, plummeting temperatures, thunderstorms and hail. More than 1000 farms were flood damaged, 5000 sheep and up to 1000 dairy cattle were lost, and about 20,000 hectares of farmland were under water.
"I'm still amazed how that storm affected the entire region," Rooke said.
"I have never, ever seen a high tide mark like it. It was incredible. There was a lot of water in there. We have had '04 storms before and we've had them since, but the difference was the '04 storm affected the whole lower North Island."
It resulted in the development of Horizons' Sustainable Land Use Initiative (SLUI).
"The old farm plans were all about soil erosion. SLUI ones are about potential erosion, water quality, biodiversity, farm and land management; the whole spectrum, and that came out of the '04 storm. We're still getting quite hefty government input into that programme through the Hill Country Erosion Fund, 16 years afterwards; and also from the rates. Farmers are rated a certain amount per hectare for the SLUI scheme.
"As per the name, it's all about sustainable land use. Water quality is also a big issue with a lot of riparian fencing and planting. Swamps were being drained when I first started, now we call them wetlands and look after them for a whole host of reasons. We started fencing off that tiger country ... that block out the back that's better taken out of grazing and put into trees."
In 2008, Rooke moved to the Woodville office to cover the Tararua area (Woodville to Dannevirke and out to the coast) as well as Pohangina Valley and Ōroua.
One of the highlights of his job has been seeing parts of New Zealand not accessible to many New Zealanders, what he calls "going out the back".
"I have loved driving around the country looking at areas I worked with, say, 10 or 15 years ago, and how they've changed. Some of my forestry jobs have been harvested and replanted again. Those are the things I'll miss; being part of those changes."
Rooke is retiring to Foxton Beach and plans a lot of walking on the beach, with a spot of whitebaiting and "a lot of doing absolutely nothing at all".
